By REBECCA SHERRY
It seems that greed and self-interest always return, despite the great number of citizen-champions in this region who remain energized and committed to protecting our vital local resource — our beaches. We call on them again to voice their support for the current East Pass sand management plan — a plan that Mother Nature also supports.
Since 2000, the East Pass Inlet Management Plan has been a shield of protection. The plan directs an annual 82,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from East Pass to be bypassed to downdrift community beaches. The plan keeps the inlet clear for the fishing fleet, protects downdrift Eglin Air Force Base installations and keeps downdrift community beaches healthy.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and the city of Destin’s new plan threatens to remove our protection. Their proposal calls for “back-passing” sand onto private, inaccessible beaches of Holiday Isle and removes any sand bypassing guarantee vital to Eglin and downdrift communities.
Sand quality. Okaloosa Islanders remain fiercely protective of sand quality. For years, beachfront owners and volunteers have planted sea oats along the dunes, at our own expense, to conserve native, sugar-white sand. We staunchly oppose dumping coarse, shell-shard-laden sand on Okaloosa Island.
Sand dollars. We favor our taxes being spent toward publicly accessible beaches, like most of Okaloosa Island. The DEP granted Holiday Isle private beach owners 2006 and 2008 “one-time exceptions,” back-passing sand onto their private beaches. Cut off from downdrift sand, Eglin then spent millions of dollars fortifying its Okaloosa Island beach installations.
Sand conservation. We align with the DEP, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Okaloosa County Commission, the Destin City Council, members of the fishing fleet and many Okaloosa Islanders urging the armoring of Norriego Point.
Sand movement. Since 1983, this inlet has been dredged 14 times, removing 2.38 million cubic yards of sand. Swift currents in the East Pass transport sand ebb and flow. Conjecture that no sand has entered the inlet since 1983 is baseless.
Sand velocity. Laws of physics and aerial photography agree: Suspended sand moves via long-shore transport in and around the pass. Speculation that sand originates from the wide Choctawhatchee Bay into East Pass is unfounded. The bay lacks the minimum velocity needed to move native sand.
Sand direction. Okaloosa Island, a downdrift community, relies upon sand bypassed from inlets to replicate the natural flow. Nearly 250,000 cubic yards of sand have instead been back-passed onto Holiday Isle private beaches since 2006. The draft plan permitting that all East Pass dredge sand be cut off from downdrift communities is needlessly destructive.
We agree with the writer of “War on beach nourishment will endanger coast” (guest column, Dec. 11, 2011). The writer, Maurice Shackelford, wrote: “It has been determined and accepted that the littoral drift in the Panhandle area is from east to west. This being the case, Okaloosa Island beaches are giving up sand daily which is redistributed along the beaches on Eglin property.”
Sand litigation. In an April 7 guest column (“Dredging, drifting and other Destin sand issues”), Mr. Shackelford implies that arguments similar to those advanced in a March 28 letter, “Against nature,” have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. David Sherry authored that letter. A document released after the 2009 East Pass dredge mediation dispels this misconception.
An Okaloosa County special counsel email (Dec. 18, 2009) correctly surmises that Okaloosa Island participants will release East Pass sand in exchange for Okaloosa Island release from inferior “restoration” sand and assessment. The counsel directs county mediation participants to refuse the offer.
Mediation failed. Litigation ensued.
Okaloosa County’s losing strategy cost taxpayers $1.2 million in legal fees and delayed West Destin restoration several years. Okaloosa Island’s sugar-white beach was spared and owners’ MSBU assessments were refunded.
We cannot logically be blamed for Okaloosa County’s missteps.
Sand matters. Its quality, quantity and placement are paramount to this community. We defend the existing plan, which protects Eglin installations, the fishing fleet, tourism and the environment and minimizes the burden on taxpayers.
We treasure the precious and unique resource our mostly public beaches provide, even to those outside the tourism industry. All threats to those beaches are equal — from hurricanes to ill-conceived County Commission ideas — and we will band together to protect them.
For more information, email nobrownsand@yahoo.com or call (850) 244-2744.
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Rebecca Sherry is president of the Condo Alliance of Okaloosa Island.